


Alexander's Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

by Fanatic_weirdo



Series: Lightwood-Bane Family [8]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Brat Rafael, Family Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Poor Alec, Sad Alec, Sad Max, Teenage Drama, The boys are teenagers, There is hint of m/m sex, max and chris are in love, nothing actually happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanatic_weirdo/pseuds/Fanatic_weirdo
Summary: Alec has a bad day! This was supposed to be lighthearted after my last story!!! Oops. But it's still funny. Thanks Cristin!





	Alexander's Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alec should have just stayed in bed that day. It hadn’t started well in the first place. He’d been so tired from patrol the night before that he’d stumbled getting out of bed, stubbed his toe, and then hit his head on a chair. 

Magnus groaned at the sound of Alec cursing, blinking slowly.

“Alexander,” Magnus said sleepily. Why was it so early? Alec hadn’t gotten home until 4am and it was only 7:30. “Come back to bed,” Magnus pleaded, holding out his arms and making grabby hands. Alec couldn’t help but smirk at his husband’s methods.

“If only,” Alec claimed, leaning over the bed to kiss Magnus who grabbed him and pulled him back into bed, giggling. “Babe,” Alec groaned, as he wanted nothing more than to curl into his husband and sleep until mid- day and then make love while the boys were out. Unfortunately, he was Head of the Institute and he had responsibilities. “I have that meeting with the Clave today. About allowing Downworlders to carry out their own trials. You know I’ve been trying to get this done for a while,” Alec sighed heavily. “I just need it to make it to trial. We can fight it if I can just get it in front of the court.” 

Magnus smiled softly at him. Alec had been fighting for so long for Downworlders to have equal rights. It had been such a big win when they allowed Downworlder children to train with Shadowhunters, but, really, that had been a win-win situation for the Clave as it meant their Shadowhunters were trained knowing what they were going to be up against. Of course, Seelies had no interest in helping and there were no vampire children, but Warlock children and the odd Werewolf child were now a part of the Institute. To Alec, it held the extra bonus of teaching Shadowhunter children that they weren’t superior or better. Which meant that once Shadowhunters were old enough to go on patrol, they didn’t act with as many prejudices were better prepared to talk to them. 

“My husband: making the world a better place, one Clave meeting at a time,” Magnus claimed, kissing Alec deeply. 

Alec smiled but sighed heavily, “If I can convince them to let me try,” he said as he kissed Magnus again. 

Magnus brushed Alec’s messy hair out of his face, “If anyone can do it, it’s you,” he said, his faith in his husband not misplaced as Alec got anything done when he put his mind to it. They’d married in gold because Alec would not give up. It had taken months, but they had finally received permission, as well as obliterated that obstacle for any future Shadowhunter and Downworlder who wanted that as an option. 

“Thanks. I hope you’re right,” Alec said, laying his head on Magnus’s chest before pushing himself up. “Hopefully I’ll be home early, though,” he promised. Magnus nodded, watching sleepily as Alec stripped off his boxers, kicking them at Magnus and headed into the shower. Magnus huffed, throwing the boxers, which had hit his face, on the floor, flopping back on the pillow, knowing Alec had only gotten naked in front of him to tease him. 

In his tiredness and hurry, Alec had gotten shampoo in his eye. He let out a groan of pain and tried to get it out quickly. This was not boding well for the fight ahead of him. Then the shirt he usually wore to Clave meetings was dirty, and Magnus had already fallen back asleep, so he had to pick another shirt, which wasn’t that big of a deal, but Alec didn’t like to admit he was slightly superstitious and wanted to wear his usual shirt. 

He kissed Magnus’s cheek as he headed out with a soft, ‘I love you’, poked his head in both the boys’ rooms, finding both still sleeping. He smiled softly. At least if he had a bad day, he always had his family.

That encouraging thought was quickly forgotten as his day only got worse. His deli didn’t have coffee fixed yet, nor did they have any protein shakes. The trains were delayed, of course, and he could have activated his speed rune, but he didn’t want to show up for work sweaty. Finally, he arrived and everyone else was already inside. Important Clave members looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he came in, trying to look as put together as possible. 

“Hello,” he glanced at the clock, he was only 3 minutes late but that was 4 minutes too many. “I apologize for my tardiness, the trains were a mess,” he figured he’d be honest. Most of them huffed, but said nothing. Some of them were on his side, he did know that, but it didn’t matter if they weren’t the majority. Alec began his prepared proposal after a final deep breath, watching the room carefully. 

“Thank you all for coming. I have a very important issue I would like to get to court. It’s a matter that I feel will improve Downworlder and Shadowhunter relations even further as we continue to make great strides with that.” 

Only two people rolled their eyes, and Alec had to call that a win. 

“However, Shadowhunters continue to hold a large role in the deciding factor in Downworld judicial matters, and I think that needs to change.” 

This time the room shifted, tensed, and some of them bristled. 

“Hear me out, please,” Alec pleaded before anyone could speak. “Why should we get a say in a quarrel between two werewolf packs or a Warlock battle? Why should we be judge and jury, when we have capable Downworld leaders that have been working beside us able to pass judgment on their own people? Sure, we can be the neutral party, the support, but I believe they should have the final say. It’s their world, their disputes. No Downworlder participates in Nephilim disputes, even when they affect Downworlders. Explain to me how that is fair and just.”

There were immediate arguments about how any dispute with the Downworld could affect Shadowhunters and Alec had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes at their medieval arguments. They argued that it is the Shadowhunters’ responsibility to protect mundanes from Downworlders, and any Downworlder dispute can lead to injured mundanes. 

In the end, Alec lost; the majority had voted that it would not go to court. 

He stormed back to this office, slamming the door behind him. How could they still be so backwards? They wouldn’t even let this go to trial?! He blinked back tears of frustration. He was at work. He was a professional. He put his head in his hands at his desk and growled in anger and hurt. 

“Alec,” a voice hit him as his door was opened.

“What?!” He bit, before looking up at who it was. Clary stood there, slightly startled by Alec’s anger, “Oh, it’s you. I’m sorry,” he sighed heavily. “What did you need?” 

She now seemed hesitant, “Um, you know what, I’ll figure it out.” 

“Clary,” he called as she tried to exit, but his tone called her back. “What happened?” 

He knew he sounded annoyed and worn out, but that’s because he was.

“So, Max was helping with training and he…” 

Alec’s eyes snapped up at the mention of Max. 

“He what?” Alec rose from his chair, ready to follow but then Jace walked in.

“Clary I told you not to tell him!” Jace had what looked like scorch marks all over his arms and his shirt had been blackened with smoke. 

“Oh my god!” Alec cried as he approached his brother.

“No one was hurt. It’s not a big deal,” Jace claimed, shaking his head as Alec looked him over. Then Alec saw his 14-year-old pacing frantically outside the door. The Warlock looked more upset than Alec could remember seeing him since Vienna last year. 

Max saw that his father had now noticed him, “I-I’ll fix it. I swear, it-it was an accident.” 

Alec shut his eyes and sighed heavily, thank the Angel this hadn’t happened when the Clave officials had been here. 

“Everyone’s all right,” Alec asked Jace quietly. 

Jace nodded his head. “Yeah, but the training room looks like a massive fire hit it,” the blond admitted.

Alec pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit,” he grumbled. “Come in here, please, Max,” he motioned to his son who was still trying to stop himself from fidgeting. 

Suddenly, Cole and Rafael were in the room as well.

“It wasn’t his fault!” Cole insisted. The 16-year-old stood firmly between Max and Alec.

“Yeah, he was just going over maneuvers. It was really Justine’s fault!” Rafael claimed.

“Oh, we’re blaming nine-year-olds now,” Alec asked the older two who shook their heads but opened their mouths to argue. “You four go outside. I want to talk to Max.” 

It took Rafael and Cole a few extra seconds to obey while Clary and Jace headed out as soon as Alec spoke. Still, a raise of his eyebrow and the 16-year-olds were out of the office as well. Rafael had put his hand on Max’s shoulder and squeezed it in comfort. 

When Max and Alec were left alone, the only sound for a moment were Max’s rough inhales and exhales. 

“I’ll fix it. I can—” Max began. 

Alec shook his head as he sat behind his desk. He hated acting like the boss when his son was so obviously distressed, but in that moment he couldn’t be a father. He had to be Head of the Institute and it just made him feel worse about this day. 

“Explain to me what happened?” Alec requested. 

“I was helping with training like I always do, and, you know when I do that fire thing it doesn’t burn anyone. It’s not real fire; it just looks like it.” 

Alec nodded, he’d never let real fire be used during the training of anyone under 13, and if Justine was training, then it was the 8-9 year olds that Max had been with. 

“Then Justine used a whip and grabbed my arms, and that would’ve been fine except—” Max hesitated; Alec didn’t push and just waited. “It hurt. She had gotten her hands on a real whip, not a training whip, and it bound my magic. So the fire balls that I had already released stopped being harmless and they exploded.” Max shut his eyes for a moment in guilt and nerves. “Thank the Angel no one was hurt,” Max whispered. “But the fire hit the walls and caused a lot of smoke and—”

“LIGHTWOOD!” 

Max and Alec’s heads shot to the doorway. It was one of the officials who had never been on Alec’s side. From him being gay, to him getting married, to today in the meeting. He always voted against any progress.

Of course he would be the one still here.

“Monteclair,” Alec greeted. 

“Care to explain what happened to the training room?” The man, who looked much older than Alec but was really only 5 years his senior, growled. “Was it this monster’s fault?” 

Instantly the Head of the Institute disappeared and Max’s father stood between them.

“That is my son you are referring to, and you will not come into MY Institute and insult my child. This is an Institute matter and I suggest you leave before I have you removed,” Alec snarled. Max’s eyes widened at Alec’s fury. “Max, why don’t you step outside so this dinosaur and I can have a talk.” 

Max didn’t need to be told twice and rushed out the door as quickly as he could. He could hear Monteclair yelling as he shut the door. 

“You are not fit to run this Institute, Lightwood! I’ve always thought so. You and that scum Warlock of yours,” Monteclair yelled. 

“Do not call my husband scum,” Alec snapped. “And it’s Lightwood-Bane!” 

Monteclair scoffed. “Husband,” he spat. “You may have fooled other members of the Clave, but you don’t fool me. You are nothing but some Warlock’s bitch. Taking it like the traitorous rat you are.” Alec suddenly grabbed him by his shirt collar. “There it is,” Monteclair chuckled. “You like to pretend you’re better, but your blood is that of a shameful family. I didn’t think I could think any lower of you Lightwoods, but then you went and shacked up with a Downworlder,” he said the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. Alec released him with a shove. “Trash, each and every one of you, but especially you. Letting those demons run around and one of them ruined your training room. Nicely done,” he scoffed.

“Don’t call my son a demon!” Alec snarled. “You are a piece of shit who has been living in the dark ages. Some of us are just trying to progress past stupid prejudices that have no place in this world! You know what, Monteclair, you and those who think like you are going to die out, and I’ll be there to watch that happen. I will fix what you all messed up.”

Monteclair scowled at him, “We messed up? Seems to me you’re the one who wants to give creatures no better than animals a say in our world. Mating with them like common dogs, dirtying up Shadowhunter blood. Worse than mundanes…” 

“You know who used to speak that way? Adolf Hitler. Get the hell out of my Institute,” Alec growled, shoving past him and opening the door. “And Monteclair,” he said as the other man walk past him, “You ever insult my son or husband again and I will, I swear, kill you.” Monteclair opened his mouth to retort but as he looked in Alec’s eyes he saw that was not an empty threat. So he walked past Alec silently. Alec followed him out the door. 

Meanwhile, when Max left Alec’s office, he found his boyfriend waiting for him.

“Max!” Chris ran up to him. “Rafe just told me what happened! Are you okay?” 

He then looked back at the door as he heard Alec roaring at someone. 

“Yeah. I need to fix the training room and then get out of here,” he said softly. It never hurt any less being called names, especially by adults. Chris knew instantly something beyond Alec’s scolding had happened in that office and assumed it had something to do with whomever Alec was tearing apart. Chris followed Max, taking his hand with a comforting smile. Max squeezed it back in appreciation. They had been dating for six months, though, really, nothing had changed beyond the hand holding and kissing, which Rafael did not enjoy walking in on. 

Max fixed the training room, now empty, in a matter of minutes. 

“Come on. Let’s portal somewhere,” Chris suggested. “Vienna maybe?”

“After what happened last year,” Max said with a chuckle, “let’s wait a little while for a return trip there.” 

Chris’s parents had been relatively accepting of Chris’s being gay and dating a Downworlder, which, considering he’d come home the day he met Max gushing about him, hadn’t come as that much of a surprise. Perhaps they also enjoyed the prestige of Max being the Head of the Institute’s son, even if that Head was more controversial than most.

“Okay. Let’s go to Prague then,” Chris suggested. 

Max grinned, “That sounds perfect,” he waved his hand and a portal appeared, but so did an older brother. 

“Absolutely not,” Rafael said quickly. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened, but Dad is already having a rough day. Let’s not make it worse by you disappearing on him, okay,” Rafael pleaded. 

Max frowned for a moment, but then the portal vanished and Rafael sighed in relief. 

“Thank you. He’s not getting to take the Downworlder thing to court. They voted ‘no’,” Rafael explained. Max and Chris knew Alec had been fighting for Downworlders rights since before they were born, so they all knew how every wall he still hit was exhausting and frustrating. 

“Rafe, Chris! Let’s go,” Cole called to them. “We have a hunt!”

Cole looked at Chris who nodded his head before looking at Max.

“I’ll come find you when I get back,” he promised and kissed Max lightly on the lips before following Rafael to the weapons area. 

“Be safe,” Max called after his brother. “Dad doesn’t need to be stressed about you either!” 

He hoped this time his brother would be a little more cautious and come back without so much as a scratch. Max sat on the training steps, leaning against a column as he waited for Alec to be done.

He didn’t have to wait long before Alec and Monteclair came into the room. 

“Look! It looks just like before. Now get out,” Alec hissed. Monteclair didn’t even acknowledge Max as he left. “Bastard,” Alec muttered as he sat down next to Max. He put his arms around Max’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. “He had no right to say that, and I’m so sorry,” Alec said. 

“You’re not the one who needs to apologize, Dad, and it’s okay. It’s not like I haven’t heard shit like that before,” Max played it off as they parted from the hug. 

“But you shouldn’t have to,” Alec claimed and sighed heavily. Max could see the tiredness in Alec’s eyes, and the hurt. It wasn’t just hurt for Max. 

“Well, neither should you. What’d he say to you,” he asked. 

Alec forced a smile, but it was more of a grimace, “Same ol’ same ol’,” Alec said, “Nothing I haven’t heard before and nothing I can’t handle.” 

Max had heard some of what Alec had ‘heard before’. He’d been called Downworld lover and a traitor; he’d heard people say no ‘fag’ should be allowed to run the Institute. He’d heard people say he should be de-runed when he’d married Magnus and when he became immortal. Alec had ignored it all, or at least he’d pretended to but Max had seen the look in his eyes when people said things like that, especially if he or Rafael were around. 

“I love you, Dad, and I’m proud of you for fighting so hard for Downworlders,” Max said. Alec’s smile was genuine this time and he kissed Max’s hair. 

“Thank you, Blue. I’ll always fight for you and Papa. You should be equals, get the same rights as me and your brother.” 

They sat in a warm, comforting silence for another few minutes before Max looked up at him again. “What’s my punishment,” he asked, knowing Alec would have to punish him.

“Well, we need to find out how Justine got a real whip, but, one-week suspension,” Alec reported. Max nodded, stretching his arms out, palms clasped and facing out.

“Fine with me. I might portal somewhere with Chris, if that’s okay,” Max said. 

“Like our lack of permission has ever stopped you,” Alec smirked. Max shrugged, unable to argue. “Just make sure you portal Chris back before he’s late for a shift because that would be on him.” Max nodded at Alec’s words. He’d never want to get his boyfriend in trouble. “You could take Rafael, too. That kid could use a break,” Alec said, grateful there was no one there to remind him how he was exactly the same at that age. 

“You just want us to have a babysitter,” Max said, rolling his eyes. 

“I trust you and Chris alone together more than I trust you and Vanya. At least I know you and Chris won’t be trying to turn pigeons into tiny horses,” Alec said.

“That happened once! I was 11, and Vanya tricked me,” Max had claimed innocence then and he wasn’t going to stop now.

“Uh-huh, more like Vanya couldn’t stop you in time,” Alec said with a grin as he stood. “I have to get back to work. I’ll see you later,” Alec headed back to his office. 

Monteclair had said some things that still cut Alec deep, no matter how often he heard them. And he knew the asshole would be using this incident against him in the future any time he tried to get anything passed that made Downworlders a little more equal. 

Alec could feel a migraine coming and it wasn’t even noon yet. He still had a list of things he had to get done before heading home. First thing’s first, he had to find out how Justine got a real whip. He knew the little girl would be an amazing Shadowhunter one day, but she adored Max, and he couldn’t see her purposefully hurting him. He’d called the nine-year-old to come into his office. The little blonde girl looked close to tears. Alec kneeled down in front of her, taking her hands in his.

“You aren’t in trouble; I just need to know where you got the whip that you grabbed Max with,” he said calmly. He knew Justine felt guilty, and he didn’t want to make it worse, but he had to know who had planted that whip. “Did you just grab it from the training weapons?” It worried Alec to know that there was a chance that someone would purposely give a child a real weapon to use on Max, even if the child had no idea what she’d been given.

“I would never mean to hurt Max,” Justine swore, and Alec couldn’t help but smile. If he did his job correctly, the next generation would be better than his.

“I know that,” Alec claimed. Justine’s eyes filled with tears and she looked at her shoe, “Hey listen, Max is okay. He’s at home. He’s totally fine.” 

“But I hurt him! He screamed and fell to the ground.” 

Alec flinched; he really hadn’t needed to know that. 

“Yeah. When a whip like what you had is used on Downworlders, it hurts them for a little while. But, you know how when you get a cut, it hurts for a little bit but then it goes away? It’s a little like that,” he tried to explain. It was more complicated than that. The whips were created to make Downworlders defenseless and a Warlock’s magic being cut short hurt him, like a muscle in mid use giving out. 

“Then I don’t wanna use weapons like that ever!” she claimed, her eyebrows pulling together in frustration. Alec smiled softly, and patted Justine’s hands. He’d explain when she was older why those weapons were necessary in certain situations. She scrunched her face in worry and guilt, “It was given to me by an adult,” she murmured. Alec’s heart sank, his suspicions were correct, and it made him nauseous to know.

“Do you know them?” 

Justine’s breath shook and she nodded, still not looking at Alec. Alec couldn’t ask her to tell on someone she knew and possibly even loved.

“Did they tell you what they were giving you? Why they were giving you this whip?” 

Justine let out a sigh of relief at not being asked to tell who the person was.

“They said it was—” She cut herself off, looking down, then began again, “They said it was their training whip when they were my age. I didn’t know it wasn’t a-!” 

Alec cupped her chin gently and forced her to look at him.

“I know this wasn’t your doing, okay? You are in no way to blame for what happened.” 

Justine swallowed hard. 

“It was Grandpa, he said it was Mama’s training whip,” Justine admitted quietly. 

The lump in Alec’s throat nearly cut off his breathing. Justine’s mother, Cassie, had been killed on a mission under direct order from Alec. He’d never truly forgive himself for being the reason that Justine was motherless. Cassie’s father had never forgiven Alec either, but the man had always been polite enough to Max when he saw him training Justine, so it could have been that Justine’s grandfather’s plan was to hurt Alec, not to hurt Max because he was a Downworlder. Alec didn’t know which was worse. 

“Thank you for telling me,” Alec said kindly. 

Justine gripped Alec’s hands, asking nervously, “Are you going to yell at Grandpa?”

“No, I’m going to talk to him, but there will be no yelling,” he promised. 

Justine nodded and muttered, “Can you tell Max I’m sorry?”

“You can tell him when he comes back. He’s taking a bit of a break, but he’ll be back soon,” he reported. 

She looked up horrified. “He-he-he was punished?” Justine stuttered. 

Alec’s head throbbed. 

“It’s complicated—” Alec began but at those words Justine pulled her hands out of Alec’s.

“Am I going to be punished? I was the one who caused the accident,” she admitted hesitantly, looking at her hands. “It’s not fair that he gets punished and not me.” 

Alec’s migraine grew. It was politics that he could not explain to a child right now. 

“Justine—”

“I don’t mind being punished,” Justine said softly. 

Alec exhaled heavily; his head was in too much pain to argue with a nine-year-old. 

“No weapons during training for a week,” Alec stated, more just to silence her than to actually punish her. She paused, but then nodded. “You’re dismissed,” he waved his hand; she left quickly and Alec sat at his desk, groaning with his head in his hands. He had to contact Justine’s grandfather, but that would have to wait until tomorrow; he couldn’t bear to deal with it right now. For now, he figured he’d start on the work he actually planned to do today.

A few hours of paper work and Clave questions about what happened at the Institute with Max, as well as having to request reconsideration for the trial, and by 3pm, Alec was ready to call it a day and go home. His head was pounding.

Rafael’s team was back from the hunt, all unharmed, so when Rafael walked into Alec’s office, Alec blinked at him, his migraine producing black spots in front of his eyes.

“Hey,” Rafael said, squaring his shoulders and standing at attention. Alec knew already this wasn’t going to end well. “So there is another team that’s about to go out. They think they have a lock down on a Greater demon and I—”

“No,” Alec said shortly. 

Rafael’s mouth fell in surprise, and then turned into a frown of annoyance.

“But I—”

“Just got back from another hunt. You know I don’t allow doubles. You’ll get the next one,” Alec stated, pretending to look down at a report on his desk, but, truly, he was just trying to make the sharpness in his head go away.

“Oh come on, Dad! Don’t be that guy,” Rafael said, and Alec’s head jerked up at him.

“I am your dad, but I am also your boss, and when I say no, I mean no. Dismissed,” he said bitingly. 

Rafael knew he was having a bad day. He knew he shouldn’t push him, but the teenager in him refused to let him walk away. 

“You are being so unreasonable! I’m not tired and my hunt earlier was so boring, it took us 5 minutes! Cole didn’t even get to fight! It was a dumb Kappa Demon. Bam, bam bam, dead. Where is the challenge in that!? And we can’t train right now because Jace is being an ass and just let me go on this hun—” 

Alec stood and Rafael knew he’d fucked up. 

“One more word, Rafael, and I will ban you from the next 100 hunts, do you understand me?”

Rafael opened his mouth to speak, but Alec narrowed his eyes and the younger Shadowhunter thought better. He snapped his mouth closed and stormed out of the office, slamming the door as loudly as he could. Alec collapsed into his chair with a groan, burying his head in his arms. Now his son hated him. Great. This was a terrible day.

Thirty minutes later, there was a small knock on his door before it opened and a soft voice called out. 

“Alec?” 

It was Jace.

“Whhaaattttt?” Alec whined, sitting up quickly and causing his coffee to spill on the report he had just signed and was about to fire message out. “Shit”, he swore as he stood and started to clean it up, Jace came over to help. His head exploded in pain, and he sat back down putting his head back into his arms.

“Um, I was just gonna tell you that if you wanted to go home I can cover for you.” 

Alec moved his head just enough so that his eyes were able to see his brother. 

“R-really?” He asked hesitantly. 

Jace nodded, “Yeah, you’ve had a long enough day. And take tomorrow off, too. I’ll call you if anything happens,” Jace offers. 

Alec stood and walked over to his brother, throwing his arms around him. Jace was thrown off slightly by the rare show of affection as well as the force with which Alec threw himself on him. But he chuckled and hugged him back. 

“Thank you, Jace! You’re my favorite Parabatai,” he claimed before pulling out his stele and creating a portal. “Thank you,” he called again before stepping though. 

Jace smiled sadly as the portal closed. He could tell Alec needed a break and he was all too happy to give it. Plus, Alec had not put up any sort of fight, a sign that his brother was truly done. 

As Alec walked into the loft he slumped in relief to see Magnus was sitting on the couch.

“Darling,” Magnus breathed sympathetically, clearly knowing how badly his day had gone.

“It hurts, Mag. Make it go away.”

Alec turned into a baby around Magnus when he wasn’t feeling well, and he didn’t feel one bit of shame in it. He curled into his husband, burying his face in Magnus’s neck. Magnus’s magic scanned Alec to find the pain and lit up at his head so Magnus set to work, pouring his magic into his clearly exhausted, defeated partner. 

“Do you want to talk about it, Love,” Magnus asked, kissing Alec’s temple as he continued to heal him. The boys had come in and both told him the gist of what happened. He’d been tempted to ground Rafael as he whined and griped about Alec being a complete ‘dictator’, but he let it go. At least until he got Alec’s side of the story. 

“No,” Alec grumbled. Though his head didn’t hurt anymore, he still didn’t want to talk about it. He just wanted to be held by his husband until he had to go to work the day after tomorrow. Magnus pulled his hand away and kissed Alec’s face and head several more times before just wrapping his arms around Alec, holding him tightly. It didn’t take him long to realize Alec was crying. It was silent and full of sadness and heartache. 

“Oh, Alec,” he whispered. 

“Nothing went right today,” Alec whimpered. 

It almost worried Magnus to see Alec this upset. It hadn’t happened like this since he’d lost the 7th fight for their right to get married. But this had only been the first meeting for this fight. There would be more. 

“They said ‘no’ to the trial, and then Max burned the training room, then that stick-in-the-mud said just awful things,” Alec let out a soft sob at that one, “and I had to suspend Max, even though it wasn’t his fault. James gave Justine a real whip in order to get payback for Cassie,” Alec murmured. 

He didn’t have to explain any further, Magnus knew perfectly well who James and Cassie were. It had caused Alec a lot of stress and guilt when she died under his direct orders.

“Then the Clave found out about what happened, and I had to defend it to them. And then I yelled at Rafe and threatened him with no hunts so he hates me now. And I just want this day to be over,” Alec’s tears flowed hard and fast. 

Magnus held him a little further to look at him when he spoke. “Firstly, Rafael does not hate you. He couldn’t hate you if he tried. Secondly, you knew this trial was going to be a long process. You knew you might not get it today,” Magnus said, keeping his voice soft and gentle. “What James did was hateful, but you are in no way to blame to what happened to Cassie any more than Max is to blame for what happened to the training room today.” Alec hummed in disagreement quietly, but Magnus didn’t want to get into that right now. “What is this about the ‘stick-in-the-mud’? The boys didn’t mention that.” 

Alec let out a choked sound and shook his head, his hands clutching Magnus’s shirt so tightly Magnus wondered if he was going to have to go kill someone. 

“Just a stupid old Shadowhunter who thinks we are the only important people. You know, the Trumps of us,” he said quietly into Magnus’s neck. Magnus pushed him back just enough to look at his face and kissed his lips carefully. Alec kissed back, deepening for a moment before moving back to his spot in Magnus’s neck. 

Rafael looked around the corner and Magnus waved his hand, telling his son to not interrupt. Rafael quickly obeyed, disappearing back into his room. 

Alec stopped crying after about five minutes, but didn’t move, enjoying the tight embrace of his husband’s arms. He finally pulled away when he felt like he could hold himself together.

“Sorry for being so pathetic,” Alec muttered. 

Magnus grabbed his face, forcing him to look into his eyes. “Don’t ever use that word when talking about my husband,” Magnus demanded. Alec smiled softly and leaned in for a kiss, which Magnus happily provided. 

“I love you,” Alec whispered. Nothing Monteclair or anything that other Clave members said could change that. Nothing that they did could change that. Alec was immortal, and they were not. He would love Magnus forever and if it took forever to get Downworlders equal rights, then that’s how long he would fight.

“I love you too, Angel,” Magnus said as he kissed Alec again. 

“Dad,” Max interrupted them. They turned to see Rafael attempting to hold him back but he shoved him off and approached his parents. Rafael rolled his eyes but followed.

“You okay,” Max asked as he studied his father who still had traces of tears on his face. 

Alec smiled at him. “Much better now. Are you doing okay,” he asked his youngest. 

Max nodded, sitting next to Alec even though he didn’t separate from Magnus. Alec looked up at Rafael who had sat in the armchair. Alec couldn’t help but smirk at the fact that Rafael was trying to pretend to be aloof, but he knew his son too well. He was biting his lower lip and was picking at his cuticles. 

“What about you, Rafael? Still hate me?” 

Rafael looked at him immediately, “Oh come on, Dad.” 

“Oh come on, Rafe,” Alec teased back a soft smirk on his face. “You are definitely not going on a hunt for 5 days,” Alec stated.

“Dad! No!” Rafael began, but Magnus glared at him.

Alec rolled his eyes. “You called your uncle an ass because he was busy and wouldn’t let you train. You wanted to go on a double shift, which you know I would never have allowed.” Alec listed off.

“Not to mention you disrespected your dad,” Magnus interjected. Rafael opened his mouth but was silenced. This time, not by a look from either of his parents, but by magic. He glared at Magnus who looked confused for a moment before looking at Max whose mouth was in a pointed scowl.

“Maxie,” Alec flicked his ear to get him to release his brother. 

Max pouted, but waved his hand and Rafael immediately said, “I know where you sleep, Brat.” 

Max raised one of his eyebrows, “I can turn you into a cockroach.” 

Rafael rolled his eyes before looking back at Alec and groaned, “Five days?” 

Alec nodded. “You are going to have to learn to listen to orders, even when they coming from me when I’m having a bad day. Cut your Dad a break once in a while, yeah?” Alec said, his tone light, but Rafael knew he was serious.

“Yeah,” Rafael grumbled, but nodded. “I’m sorry, about, you know, everything.” 

Alec smiled softly and nodded, “Thank you.”

“Okay,” Max said sitting up and clapping his hands together. “Rafe and I are going to pick up my boyfriend and we’re going to Spain. We’ll be back tomorrow night,” Max said.

“I thought we were going to Prague,” Rafael asked. Max rolled his eyes and made a portal.

“Bye, love you,” Max said before walking into the portal. 

Rafael paused, looking back at his parents. “What he said,” he muttered before walking into the portal. 

Magnus and Alec let out a huffed laugh of disbelief. Suddenly a bottle of champagne appeared on the table in front of them and Alec’s laugh grew as he picked it up.

“I believe this is from our son who has zero taste in champagne,” he showed Magnus the cheap bottle of wine. 

Magnus chuckled, “Well he is 14, so honestly I’d be a little worried if he did know the good stuff.” 

Alec sighed heavily and put the champagne back on the table.

“You hear that raising teenagers is hard, but, by the Angel, I had no idea,” Alec said. 

Magnus chuckled and kissed Alec’s neck, “I know something else hard,” Magnus whispered in Alec’s ear. 

Alec threw his head back laughing even harder, “Really? That’s what you’re going with?” 

Magnus sat back, his face twisted in a mixture of confusion and pout. “No good? I just wanted sex, and you said ‘hard’, so I thought…” Magnus said defeated. 

Suddenly Alec turned around and pinned Magnus’s wrists, “Oh we are going to have sex, Warlock. I’m off tomorrow. We aren’t coming up for air until the boys get home,” Alec said, kissing Magnus’s lips hard and deep. 

“You should have bad days more often,” Magnus claimed, as they parted for air. 

Alec moaned and shook his head. “I’ll want you like this always, no need for the bad day,” Alec swore. 

Magnus, grinning, arched up, connecting their lips once again. Bad day or not, this was one hell of a way to end it.

**Author's Note:**

> I used "the trumps of us" to describe a nasty man. I know Trump will not longer be president by this time but I imagine that will become a term that you use when talking about racists assholes in the future. The way we say "Their name is mudd" Like the doctor who helped John Wilkes Booth.


End file.
